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Aria, who had promised to meet tomorrow, didn't come the next day, or the day after, or the day after that.
'Why isn't she coming?'
The Aria that Idris knew was someone who would get angry with him if she was upset, but she wasn't the type to sulk and not even show her face like this.
'Could something have happened?'
He regretted not asking Aria where she lived sooner, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
He could only wait.
Endlessly, and endlessly...
The waiting became long, so long that others started to notice.
"Hey, she probably doesn't like a beggar like you anymore, right?"
The village children, who always stuck with Idris, noticed that Aria hadn't been around for a long time and started picking on him.
"Yeah, you should have just shown us your eyes when we asked!"
The children approached, ready to take off Idris's eye patch.
They were deliberately messing with him because Idris didn't like showing his eyes.
But today, for some reason, Idris didn't resist.
The child who gleefully pulled off Idris's eye patch paused.
"Wh-what..."
Beyond the eye patch, instead of the hideous sight they had imagined, golden eyes were staring intently at him.
"You're not blind...?"
Idris's fist flew towards the boy's face, who faltered at the murderous look in his eyes.
The four boys wrestled and fought fiercely, and the last one standing was...
Idris.
Of course, he wasn't in good shape either.
Idris limped back home.
He lay down on the old bed with his battered body, and not long after, he heard a violent pounding on the window.
It was autumn rain.
'I can hear the sound of insects outside. Can you hear it? I think autumn has come.'
The voice that was on the verge of tears, worrying about him not getting treatment, and the face of the girl he saw that day, came to mind one after another.
At the same time, the pain he had forgotten became vivid.
'...It hurts.'
Idris closed his eyes, enduring the aching pain all over his body.
But at that moment, he heard a knock through the rain.
Idris's eyes flashed open at the sound.
'Could it be...?'
It was already dark.
It was late for Aria to visit, but his happiness came first.
Idris forgot the pain that had been consuming him just moments before, and without even thinking about covering his eyes, he ran and opened the door.
"Ari—"
But standing in front of the door were three men in black robes.
Instinctively sensing danger, Idris tried to step back, but the man's foot was faster.
"Kugh...!"
Crash!
Idris, hit in the solar plexus by the man's foot, rolled across the floor.
In the meantime, the men who had entered the house surrounded the boy.
The man who appeared to be the leader approached Idris and knelt down on one knee.
When Idris, who was collapsed in terrible pain, finally raised his upper body.
The man's cold hand grabbed Idris's chin roughly.
He twisted his face to escape from the hand, but the man's grip on his chin only tightened.
Idris growled, asking.
"Who...who are you guys?"
The man stared at the clear golden eyes glaring at him, then opened his mouth.
"It is an honor to meet you like this, Third Prince."
Idris's eyes shook aimlessly at his identity, which he had never even imagined.
"Of course, it would have been better if we hadn't met."
"..."
"Those eyes... It seems you've been hiding them well until now, which is commendable, but you shouldn't have been discovered at all."
"..."
"Unfortunately, my master doesn't like leaving behind uncertain possibilities."
The man lowered the hand that had been holding his chin and grabbed Idris's neck.
It was then that he sensed a chilling murderous intent in the man's eyes.
Knock knock.
"Are you inside?"
The child he had been waiting for had come.
At the moment he never wanted to meet.
The man who appeared to be the leader gestured with a nod to his subordinates, who were holding their breath and waiting for his command.
Idris, who noticed the meaning, urgently stopped them.
"Wait, hold on!"
But the men ignored Idris's words and approached the door.
Idris said desperately.
"You're after me, right? There's no need to get an innocent person involved and make things worse, is there?"
Only then did the men turn to Idris.
"I'll send the child away."
After exchanging glances for a moment, the men seemed to agree and released Idris's chin.
Idris took a moment to calm his trembling breath and opened his mouth.
"...Why did you come?"
I'm, I'm sorry. Am I too late? I wanted to come sooner, but—
"...There's no need to apologize. I wasn't waiting for you."
Idris kicked something in his way and shouted.
Bang!
"Get out. Don't ever come back."
Please, just go back now.
More than his own impending death, he was afraid that this child might get caught up in his fate.
I, I was wrong... I'll explain why I was late, so can you please open the door?
I want to talk to you face to face...
Aria's voice sounded tearful.
His heart weakened at that, but Idris clenched his fists tightly and spat out a lie as if chewing on it.
"...No."
"Were you having fun all this time, pitying me, feeling sorry for me, and helping me while looking at a more miserable version of yourself than you?"
"I hated it."
"And I was sick of my situation, where I had no choice but to rely on that help."
The words he spoke to hurt Aria pierced and lodged in his own heart instead.
And the reality that he was just a helpless child, so he had no choice but to protect that child in this way.
It hurt, and he was angry.
"So please, in front of me...!"
Idris, who was venting his anger towards himself and his situation at Aria, stopped without finishing his words.
Was it really right to hurt that child for the sake of her?
This moment would be remembered by that child as his last with him.
Idris barely swallowed the rising emotions and said as if squeezing it out.
"...Go."
The sobbing gradually faded away, then was completely buried in the sound of the rain.
At the same time as relief, a fact he had forgotten came to mind.
'I didn't get to tell her my name in the end...'
Would she not even be curious about the name of the friend who only gave her pain until the end?
The chilling voice of the man fell over Idris's head, who was laughing at himself.
"You have made a wise decision."
Idris turned to look at the man approaching him.
It was time to face death.
"Then, since you have sent your friend away, you must obediently die as promised—"
Just as the man was approaching Idris, Idris quickly dodged and drew the old curtains.
Then, in an instant, perfect darkness filled the small house.
He could feel the men, suddenly trapped in darkness, panicking.
Idris closed his eyes in the darkness, which was so familiar to him that it even felt cozy, and focused his senses on the presence of people in the darkness.
"I didn't say I would obediently die."
"This is a useless trick..."
"Bad guys don't keep their promises very well."
One of the things he learned while living as the most despised blind person in the slums was.
Humans enjoy seeing those who are worse off than them crawl and suffer.
The village children who harassed him had never kept their promises to him.
If children were like that, would adults, who were even more vicious, be any different?
'These guys might go straight to kill Aria as soon as they kill me.'
If he was going to die anyway...
'I'll struggle to the end.'
Until you get even one step further away.
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